D&D 3E/3.5 Creature Catalog 3.5 Overhaul Project

[Conaill]

My solution: either we remove *all* reference to the "Astral Projection" spell from the Berbalang, or we need to make it 100% clear that this ability does NOT simulate the Astral Projection spell! It sounds like the designers only intended to let the Berbalang to wander the Astral plane itself, NOT to wander *all* the planes while being completely invulnerable. And even that was a fairly recent addition.

How about this:

Astral Trance (Su): The berbalang spends the majority of its life on the Astral plane. When on the Material plane, it can shift to the Astral plane as a full round action. This ability is similar to astral projection cast by a 7th-level sorcerer, but doesn't enable the berbalang to materialize a new physical body on a different plane. This ability can be used at will by the berbalang.

 

[BOZ]

whoo boy, this might be harder than i thought.

i think the astral travel (and i'm thinking of calling it Astral Travel) and the "fighting projection" need to function as two separate abilities, as they are really very unrelated (except for the fact that they both rely on the creature's mental power).

as for the astral travel, it works like the spell in a lot of ways, but it is also rather different. thus, the writeup should say something to the effect of, "This ability works similar to the Astral Projection spell, with some significant differences."

if i find some free time today (you never know, i just might) i'll read more into this, and write something up.

thanks for keeping up with this guys!

 

[Conaill]

By the way, I believe it used to be that a flying creature could only carry a Light load - or was that a Medium load? Can't find any such restriction in 3.5 SRD, just a mention in the "Types, Subtypes, and Special Abilities" section that "A creature with a fly speed can move through the air at the indicated speed if carrying no more than a light load." That could just mean it suffers the normal encumbrance penalties to speed like any non-flying creature. But I think it's interesting that none of the other movement mode entries mention anything about encumbrance...

Anyway, a Str 10 Berbalang has a Light load of 33 lb. or less, Medium up to 66 lbs, and Heavy up to 100 lbs. It's going to have an awfully hard time flying off with its prey, as it did in earlier descriptions of the monster...

 

[Conaill]

We'd have to aim for a carrying capacity of around 150-200 lbs, if we want it to be able to fly off with the average human without stripping it of all gear first. At Light load, that would require a Str of 21-23!

Do we know for sure that flyers are limited to Light loads? Looking back, I notice the 3.0 SRD is equally vague about the issue, but I believe there was something in either the MM or MotW about this. Could anyone doublecheck this?

Anyway, if Light load is a strict limit, we might be able to relax that just for the Berbalang. If we allow it to fly with up to a Heavy load (with speed penalties, of course), we would only need to increase its Strength to 15 for a Heavy load of 200 lbs, or 13 for a Heavy load of 150 lbs. Gnomes or Halflings would only be a Light load at those Strengths.

"The Berbalangs powerful leathery wings enable it to fly even while carrying up to a Heavy load. A Medium load reduces its flying speed to 30 ft (poor), a Heavy load to 20 ft (clumsy)."

 

[Conaill]

Berbalang description nitpicks:

- Astral Travel: use "This ability does not enable the berbalang to... " instead of "The berbalang is not able to...". A Berbalang may very well posess a separate item or spell to allow him to cross from the Astral plane into another. No reason to prohibit him from doing so, even though the Astral Travel ability itself isn't sufficient.

- Yes, the Astral form should probably have a silver cord. No reason to start inventing new rules for projections into the astral plane.

- Fort save DC 15 or die gives a 60% chance of dying. I think the original 75% chance of death is too large to make it interesting anyway. How about a Will save DC 15 instead? Higher chances of survival makes for a more interesting creature (otherwise the PCs might never even get to realize the berb's special powers!). Plus maxing out the Will save gives fewer additional bonuses to the berbalang because it's projection already has immunity against mind-influencing effects.

- "If the projection is wounded, the berbalang cannot produce...": should that be "wounded or slain"? Or should be let the berbalang take revenge immediately if it's projection is slain and it survives? Could be open to abuse (berb cleric with maxed out save and Luck domain has his projection commit suicide rather than having to wait for X days).

- Berbalang society: Too much detail, IMHO, I liked the old version better. For example, there's no reason to specify it doesn't attack those weaker creatures on the Astral plane. It's a CE creature, it can do whatever it (or rather the DM) damn well pleases on the Astral Plane. Besides, the 1E FF specifically states it *does* hunt and kill on the Astral plane. I would also leave out the entire second half of the first paragraph. It' unnecessarily detailed, and it makes them sound more like a LG than a CE creature. These kinds of details are probably best left up to the DM anyway.

- "Once the projection finds a slain human, or kills one, it picks up the body and returns to the lair with it. As it travels, it feasts upon the body leaving nothing but bones after one minute." This is rather confusing. Why does it take the body back to it's lair, if it starts eating while it's underway and arrives at the lair with nothing but some bones? Does it collect the bones or something? Why not find a safe spot to eat the body, *then* return to it's lair? How about this:

"Once the projection finds a slain human, or kills one, it flies off with the body. It can feast upon the body while it travels, leaving nothing but bones after one minute. As soon as the projection returns to the lair, the berbalang will awaken immediately, satisfied and refreshed."

 

[cildarith]

The article on Dead Gods from Dragon #240 makes passing reference to "berbalang cabals" on the Astral Plane.

 

[BOZ]

The article on Dead Gods from Dragon #240 makes passing reference to "berbalang cabals" on the Astral Plane.

actually, i got that information from "A Guide To the Astral Plane" from planescape, which that article was likely also referring to. but i can still remove that info (the scholarly debate stuff) if that's too "controversial"

 

[Krishnath]

Scaladar: The creature looks like a large scorpion, but it is built from copper, brass and various other metals. The monsters stinger crackles with electrical energy."

 

[Conaill]

I'd say barely LA +5 for the current version: +1 for flight, only barely +1 for natural armor, +1 for material projection, +1 for darkvision, and +1 for stats.


Do we need to worry about the flightspeed of a laden swallow - sorry - berbalang? I'd say definitely yes! 10 rounds of diminished flight speed means ten rounds that the PCs can try and retrieve the body of their slain comrade. Slowing down the retreat of the Berbalang can only enhance the encounter.

Let's make it a Str 13 (Heavy load up to 150 lbs) and LA +5. Or if we really want to make it LA +6, we could give it Str 15 and some more natural armor. With the parapgraph I suggested at the top of this page:

"The Berbalangs powerful leathery wings enable it to fly even while carrying up to a Heavy load. A Medium load reduces its flying speed to 30 ft (poor), a Heavy load to 20 ft (clumsy)."


Any particular reason why the fly speed moved from fly 40 ft (average) to fly 60 ft (good), and the darkvision from 60 ft to 120 ft?


Hmm... it looks like paragraphs 3,4 and 5 under "Berbalang Society" (flying off with the body, prevented from feeding, sending out a new projection) would fit better under the "Combat" section.

 

[Krishnath]

Oh, allright

"A black skinned humanoid with pale white eyes swoops down upon you, carried by powerful wings like those of a demonic bat"

Is that good enough?